A Wretched Hive Episode II of Star Wars: Dawn of Defiance RODNEY THOMPSON Design Rodney Thompson A Wretched Hive is the second adventure in the Dawn of Defiance campaign, which will take heroes from 1st level all the way through Editing Ray Vallese 20th level in a continuous storyline designed to give both players and Gamemasters a complete Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition experience. This adventure lets the heroes delve deeper into the Typesetting Ray Vallese, Gary M. Sarli mysterious plot surrounding former Imperial Admiral Varth, and the heroes should advance to 5th level by the conclusion of the adventure. Over the course of this adventure, the heroes get to see what the galaxy Production Chad Laske, Matt Burke is like in the wake of the rise of the Empire, and they discover a bit more about the Empire’s secret plans and how they involve a Hutt crime lord named Darga. Maps Corey Macourek Art on p. 4, 7, and 14 Elizabeth McLaren Lucas Licensing Editors Leland Chee, Frank Parisi Design Manager Christopher Perkins Director of RPG R&D Bill Slavicsek What is Dawn of Defiance? 2 Dawn of Defiance is the name given to a series of 10 linked adventures that Gamemasters can use to create an entire campaign for their players. Set in the months after the events of Revenge of the Sith, the adventures in the Dawn of Defiance campaign are designed to provide players and GMs with the iconic Star Wars Roleplaying Game experience, set against the backdrop of the tyranny of the Galactic Empire. The Dawn of Defiance campaign takes the heroes all the way from 1st level up to 20th level, and features an ongoing storyline that progresses over Some rules mechanics are based on the Star Wars Roleplaying Game Revised Core Rulebook by the course of the campaign. Each adventure can also be played Bill Slavicsek, Andy Collins, and JD Wiker, the original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® rules created by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and the new DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game designed by individually, and should provide the heroes with ample challenges to Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison. gain two levels per adventure. Gamemasters should feel free to use the This Wizards of the Coast game product contains no Open Game Content. No portion of this work Dawn of Defiance adventures either as an entire campaign or as fillers may be reproduced in any form without written permission. To learn more about the Open Gaming License and the d20 System License, please visit www.wizards.com/d20. for their own home campaigns. If you are a Gamemaster wishing to run the campaign, read the U.S., CANADA, ASIA, GREAT BRITAIN EUROPE PACIFIC, & LATIN AMERICA HASBRO UK LTD WIZARDS OF THE COAST, BELGIUM GM’s Primer, which summarizes the overall plot of the campaign and the WIZARDS OF THE COAST, INC. CASWELL WAY ’T HOFVELD 6D P.O. BOX 707 NEWPORT, GWENT NP9 0YH 1702 GROOT-BIJGAARDEN events of each adventure. The GM’s Primer is available at the Star Wars RENTON, WA 98057-0707 GREAT BRITAIN BELGIUM Roleplaying Game Web site (www.wizards.com/starwars). The site also QUESTIONS? 1-800-324-6496 PLEASE KEEP THIS ADDRESS +32 2 467 3360 FOR YOUR RECORDS features other articles related to the Dawn of Defiance campaign, including the official campaign standards and an FAQ. Warning! If you will be playing in a Dawn of Defiance campaign or in a campaign utilizing its adventures, read no further. ©2007 LUCASFILM LTD. & ® OR ™ WHERE INDICATED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. USED UNDER AUTHORIZATION. DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D20 SYSTEM, Wizards of the Coast, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the U.S.A. and other countries. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events is purely coincidental. Printed in the U.S.A. wish to help them, the heroes must convince him to lead them to a Adventure hidden location in the city of Zarra. The building is in fact Darga the Background Hutt’s palace, which the crime lord took over after its previous Neimoidian inhabitant (a high-ranking member of the Trade Federation) This adventure is designed under the assumption that you have run your vanished, leaving it abandoned. The heroes enter the palace and are heroes through the first Dawn of Defiance adventure, The Traitor’s granted an audience with the Hutt. Darga has ordered them brought to Gambit. The heroes should already be acquainted with Admiral Varth, him so that he can size them up, and he offers to let the heroes stay in Captain Sirona Okeefe, and Captain Adrian Verana of the Alderaanian his court for a few days, giving them a chance to impress him and gain starship Resurgence. Beyond that, the heroes need to know only that his trust. there is much to be gained in working for Bail Organa, even indirectly, The heroes stay in the palace’s guest quarters. During the final night and that the Galactic Empire is up to something big. of their stay, any Force-sensitive characters begin to hear whispers, as If you aren’t running Dawn of Defiance but would like to use this though someone were trying to communicate with them telepathically, adventure in your home campaign, the heroes might be hired by an and they feel a tugging in the Force toward one of the other rooms. existing NPC in your campaign to investigate the dealings that a Hutt Following the whispers, they discover a secret set of chambers below the crime lord has with the Empire. They can try to discover what the Empire guest quarters. Inside is a comatose woman, older and gray with is trading with the Hutt and report back to their employer. weathered features, who is hooked up to machinery that is keeping her Additionally, it is highly recommended that you read the entire unconscious. Once the heroes revive her, they discover that she is a adventure thoroughly before running it. Some of the events can take former Jedi Master named Denia who has been kept comatose ever since place at varying times, and having full knowledge of the potential events she fell in battle during the Clone Wars. Unfortunately, the heroes’ can save you many headaches. meddling hasn’t gone unnoticed, and Darga calls the palace guards, leaving the entire building in an uproar. Adventure As the heroes fight their way back to the upper levels of Darga’s palace, they quickly discover that the Hutt is living up to his species’ Summary reputation for cowardice. Terrified at the prospect of having a Jedi loose At a briefing aboard the Resurgence, Admiral Varth explains that part of in his palace, Darga flees to his space yacht and takes off for the planet his responsibility in a secret Imperial scheme known as the Sarlacc Bespin. Though the Hutt leaves town in a hurry, his minions remain Project was to arrange the covert exchange of resources through a Hutt behind to try to finish off the intruders. crime lord on the planet Cato Neimoidia. Captain Verana orders the heroes to travel aboard Captain Okeefe’s transport to Cato Neimoidia, make contact with Darga, the Hutt gangster, and discover what he’s Opening Crawl For Gamemasters who wish to have an opening crawl before the trading with the Empire. 3 First, the heroes must find one of Darga’s underlings—a Devaronian adventure, consider using the boxed text below. named Warrick Raden—at a ruined warehouse. Though Raden does not STAR WARS: DAWN OF DEFIANCE Episode II A WRETCHED HIVE Between the stars in the blackness of space, the Nebulon-B frigate Resurgence floats silently away from the prying eyes of the Empire. Meanwhile, the galaxy continues to sink further into darkness. Each day, remnants of the Old Republic are crushed and a New Order is more firmly established. Former Imperial Admiral Gilder Varth has provided Alderaanian agents with vital information on secret projects, and even now events are in motion to reveal the Empire’s misdeeds to the galaxy . Part 1: Cato Neimoidia In A Wretched Hive, the heroes must travel to the world of Cato Neimoidia, a planet ravaged by the Clone Wars and one of the many The briefing room aboard the Resurgence is clean and white, with colony worlds of the Neimoidian people. Since their last adventure, the several benches wrapping smoothly around a holographic projector heroes have spent some down time aboard the Nebulon-B frigate seated on a raised dais in the center of the room. The projector Resurgence, which is apparently owned by Bail Organa. The ship spends springs to life, and the blue-tinted hologram of a Hutt appears to all of its time in deep space, between worlds and away from major hover a few inches away from the projector’s three curved prongs. hyperspace routes, and it currently serves as a mobile safe house for With a brusque clearing of his throat, former Imperial officer Gilder former Imperial Admiral Gilder Varth. Varth begins to speak, wasting little time on pleasantries. Varth was recently rescued from an Imperial prison facility (either by “Before the Empire decided my conscience was a liability,” he the heroes, if they played in The Traitor’s Gambit, or by other agents of says, “I was involved peripherally in a top-secret plan known as the Bail Organa if they didn’t) and brought to the Resurgence to be Sarlacc Project.